1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for transmitting image pickup signals and an apparatus therefor, in which image pickup signals of an object photographed by means of a digital still camera (digital electronic still camera) are transmitted to an image recording apparatus such as video cassette tape recorder or a video camera to be recorded there.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generally a digital electronic still camera convert image signals to electrical signals, and electrically carries out processing, recording and reproduction for the signals.
Unlike the conventional camera using the silver salt film, the digital electronic still camera requires no dark room development processing and no chemical treatment. Further, it is capable of confirming the picked-up image immediately, and the recorded image information is stored in an electronic form. Therefore, a computer can carry out a finish processing for the information, and a long distance transmission is possible.
For example, the information can be connected to the internet to form a home page by using the pictures which have been photographed by means of the digital still camera. Further, various reports can be prepared by inserting the picked-up images. Further, an electronic album can be formed by inserting graduation photographs or marriage photographs, or the photographs can be stored in a diskette.
Generally, this digital still camera is available in a VGA (640 xc3x97480) scale, and has a large capacity memory so that a large number of photographs can be recorded.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the constitution of the conventional digital electronic still camera.
As shown in FIG. 1, the conventional digital still camera includes: a control section 1 for controlling various functions such as image-picking-up for objects, converting the picked-up images into electrical signals, recording and reproduction; a key inputting section 2 for inputting user""s commands into the control section 1; a CCD (charge coupled device) 4 for image-picking-up for objects through a lens 3 to convert the picked-up images into electrical signals; a timing generator 5 for adjusting the image output after its photographing by the CCD 4 in accordance with the control section 1; a CDS/AGC (correlated double sampling/automatic gain control) 6 for adjusting the gain of the output signals of the CCD 4, and for removing noises; an analogue/digital converter 7 for converting the output signals of the CDS/AGC 6 into digital signals; a temporary memory 8 for temporarily storing the reproduction signals and the output signals of the analogue/digital converter 7 under the control of the control section 1; a compressedly-storing memory 9 for storing and outputting the picked-up image signals under the control of the control section 1; a JPEG (joint photographic coding experts group) processor 10 for compressing the image signals of the temporary memory 8 into the JPEG form, and for expanding them under the control of the control section 1; and an encoder 11 for converting the expanded image signals of the JPEG processor 10 into television signals under the control of the control section 1.
The temporary memory generally consists of DRAM (direct random access memory), while the compressedly-storing memory 9 consists of a flash memory.
When an object is photographed by using the above described conventional digital still camera, the user presses the shutter key of the key inputting section 2 while confirming the object through a view finder (not illustrated).
Then the control section 1 judges on the pressing of the shutter key, and controls the timing generator 5 to drive the CCD 4.
The CCD 4 picks up the image of the object through the lens 3, and then, converts the picked-up image into electrical signals under the control of the timing generator 5.
For the output signals of the CCD 4, the gain is adjusted, and noises are removed by the CDS/AGC 6 under the control of the control section 1. Then the signals are converted into digital signals by the analogue/digital converter 7 to be stored into the temporary memory 8.
The picked-up images of the temporary memory 8 are inputted into the JPEG processor 10 under the control of the control section 1 to be compressed into the JPEG form so as to be sequentially stored into the compressedly-storing memory 9.
That is, in the digital electronic still camera, when the shutter key of the key inputting section 2 is pressed, the image of the object which has been photographed by the CCD 4 is converted into electrical signals. Then the electrical signals are converted into digital signals, and then, the digital signals are compressed into the JPEG form to be sequentially stored into the compressedly-storing memory 9. This procedure is repeatedly carried out.
The picked-up image signals which have been stored in the compressedly-storing memory 9 can be outputted to be recorded into an image recording apparatus such as video cassette tape recorder or video camera. Or in the case where the signals are displayed on a display device such as a monitor or a television, the control section 1 reads the compressedly stored image signals one by one from the compressedly-storing memory 9. Then the signals are inputted into the JPEG processor 10 to restore the signals into the original picked-up image signals.
When the restoration is completed, the restored signals are inputted into the encoder 11, so that the encoder would convert the signals into television signals.
Then the converted signals are displayed on a display device, or recorded in a image recording apparatus.
However, in the above described conventional digital still camera, when the picked-up images are recorded into an image recording apparatus, the digital electronic still camera reproduces the images, and the reproduced image signals are transmitted through a connecting jack or the like to the image recording apparatus. During this process, the image recording apparatus has to be put to the recording stop mode.
That is, when the images which are being reproduced by the digital electronic still camera are recorded into an image recording apparatus, first the image recording apparatus has to be momentarily put to a stopped status.
Then while operating the digital electronic still camera under a reproduction mode, the image recording apparatus has to be put to a recording mode.
Therefore, the operating procedure is very complicated and troublesome, and it is very difficult to adjust an exact timing. Therefore, the quality of the recorded images are liable to be degraded.
Further, the images to be recorded are simply supplied from the digital electronic still camera through the jack to the image recording apparatus. Therefore, in the case where the user wants to find out a particular scene from the images, the user has to check one scene by one scene by displaying the images on a display device such as a monitor or a television. This is very troublesome to the user, and much time is consumed.
The present invention is intended to overcome the above described disadvantages of the conventional technique.
Therefore it is an object of the present invention to provide a method for transmitting image pickup signals and an apparatus therefor, in which when the stored images of the digital electronic still camera are to be reproduced, the image recording apparatus is automatically controlled, so that the reproduced images can be recorded.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a method for transmitting image pickup signals and an apparatus therefor, in which a particular position of the recorded images of the image recording apparatus can be speedily found.
In achieving the above objects, the present invention is characterized as follows. That is, the digital electronic still camera is provided with an infrared ray transmitting section, and the image recording apparatus is provided with an infrared ray receiving section.
When the digital electronic still camera reproduces the stored images to transmit them to the image recording apparatus, certain control signals are transmitted both to the infrared ray transmitting section and to the infrared ray receiving section.
In accordance with the received control signals, the image recording apparatus is put to a momentary stop mode and then to a recording mode to record the images from the digital electronic still camera.
Under this condition, when the digital electronic still camera outputs the control signals, index insertion control signals are accompanied. The image recording apparatus carries out the recording by inserting index signals in accordance with the received index insertion control signals.
Therefore, in the present invention, the user can accurately record the image signals in the image recording apparatus by exactly matching the timing without manipulating the image recording apparatus. Further, a particular scene can be speedily found from the recorded images by utilizing the index signals.